My biggest purge yet!

Hello there! Hope you’re having a GREAT week!

I mentioned earlier this week that I’m DONE with the decluttering of the basement…this is huge for me peeps. HUGE. Every year for the past few years, I spend what seems like half the year decrapifying this space.

This time, it only took me a whole year. :)

For reals. Seriously. A YEAR.

One thing I have learned on my decrapification journey is that ridding your home of STUFF is not something you can do just once every twelve months. At least in our house – it’s a constant process.

Now our home is a bit different than most. I mean, I tend to gather stuff faster than the average person. It’s the nature of my “job” – being a home decor blogger. Add to that a thrifty home decor blogger, and it just spells T.R.O.U.B.L.E.

It physically pains a thrifty blogger to leave that perfect such-and-such or so-and-so at their local Goodwill because if I see it, leave it and walk out without it, OHDEARLORDIMIGHTNEEDIT!!!

Like, tomorrow! Or next week. Or next year?

Or something like that. :)

Sheesh. It is intense people.

But over the past year, I was increasingly over the STUFF. I wanted our house back. I wanted empty shelves back. And I was tired of seeing wasted money sitting around.

I got really intense with it late last summer when my father-in-law passed away. As we went through his house (for weeks), I found my tolerance for our unused, unappreciated stuff was less and less.

I decided then that I only wanted items in our house that 1.) we found useful (and currently USED) 2.) were meaningful to us or 3.) we loved (things that were passed down, or that we truly enjoyed). 

If it didn’t meet one of these three, it was gone. Our biggest problem area has always been our basement. It’s just a prime landing spot for junk, obviously.

I’m happy to announce I have gone through and organized every. little. bitty. thing in the space now. It’s done.

I started with my craft area back in January:

This spot holds extra pantry and entertaining items, tools, craft supplies, electronics and my stash of decor stuff. Those plastic shelves are awesome! I think they run about $20 each and really hold up great.

The area to the left of my craft room will be our future movie viewing spot:

Hubs envisions a very large flat screen on that long wall. I see some gorgeous built ins.  ;)

We used to have a massive weight system in that space:

And it had turned into a perch for STUFF. We never, ever used it. EVER. For months and years, we kept it, thinking we’d use it again.

We didn’t. :)

(In our defense, there were a few problems that needed to be fixed. We kept saying we’d fix them. We didn’t.)

And then I decided it didn’t meet our criteria – so it was GONE. I called a company to see how much they’d charge to take it down, and it was $250. PuSHAW. I figured I could totally do that myself – so I did.

I spent a few days with a socket wrench and took that baby down. It felt SO GOOD.

We didn’t use it, didn’t love it, so why keep it? Yes, I know it was an investment at one time. But I’d rather it go to someone who would use it, rather than sitting in our basement, acting as a coat rack.

Over the last few months, I’ve moved the majority of the Bub’s toys down to this space:

His DIY train tables are a perfect play surface and there’s plenty of floor space (covered with a carpet remnant). It’s so nice to have a spot dedicated to the toys!

The plastic shelves make an appearance in this area too:

We keep the kitty litter in the spot behind these (under the stairs), so to keep that area as separate as possible, I stapled some cheap muslin up on the studs behind the shelves.

I also hot glued a fun polka-dot fabric to the backs of the shelves:

It helps to keep the toys put and it’s just a dash of cute. :)

We already have some great lighting in the basement, but there’s a few spots that need a little extra. I’ve found these plug-in lights at most hardware stores:

They ROCK. Ours hold up to a 150 watt bulb. It’s fantastic for extra light! (They run about $7 each.)

One of my favorite changes in our basement is hubby’s office. It used to look like this:

Actually, it usually looked like a pit of despair. The floor was always covered with fake snow, ornaments, fall leaves and Easter basket filler. :)

Both walls were filled with storage bins, and eventually I realized it was a waste of great space. After MUCH purging, I moved them to the end of the basement instead:

I’m hoping to get some fantabulous shelving to organize these even more. It is ridiculous that shelving makes me so giddy. :)

Now that former bin-filled space is hubby’s office:

It’s actually a really cozy space! As cozy as cement walls and floors can be anyway. I like to think of it as loft-like. ;) Hubs writes music, so he LOVES this spot. It’s far enough away so that he doesn’t bother us with the music and we don’t bother him.

When I said I went through every little thing in this space, I’m not kidding. I can’t even believe how many paint cans we had:

Insanity!!

Even though I had purged the holiday stuff last Christmas, I still had a pile of STUFF that I hadn’t organized:

My tower of junk had fallen, so it gives a little extra drama to the madness. ;)

And I even went through each and every CD and floppy disk from up to ten years ago:

I spent hours at the computer going through files. I was determined to get it ALL done.

I took the last of the purge upstairs over the weekend and I was SO HAPPY when I saw the amount of storage stuff I didn’t need anymore:

Over the past year, I kept count of the large storage bins I’ve sold or given away. It was right at 17. Seventeen big bins – and I didn’t keep ONE. That doesn’t even count all of the baskets, small bins, shelves…whatever. All of them are gone!

I didn’t want the temptation.

From now on, if I can’t fit an item the storage we have, then something has to go. My hope is to never buy another storage bin again…forever and ever AMEN.

:)

I snapped that picture above and texted my girlfriends to come and get free storage stuff…and even after one showed up and took a bunch of them, I still ended up finding more to add to the pile:

And then more:

I was on a roll. :) I gave a bunch to friends, and the rest was donated or taken to consignment.

Obviously, we still have lots of things. I like things. Pretty things, shiny things, thrifty things. I’m just not going to let them take over our home anymore.

So now, our foyer looks like this again:

It’s the first time in months I haven’t had a Goodwill pile by the front door. It feels good. :)

And our problem area, the spot where STUFF went to die…is now organized and ready for the (hopefully this year, crossing my fingers, pretty pretty please!) finished basement:

Whew. Just…WHEW. It nearly beat me people. But I overcame the clutter. :) Now…if I can just keep it in check!

So that’s the tale of my biggest decrapification yet. It didn’t happen over a weekend. Or a month…or even a few months. But it happened. And that’s all that mattered.

WHOO!! :)

Now…onto more decorating and DIY! (Double whoo!)

Thrifting “lady date”

Hey all! Thanks SO much for all the wonderful comments and emails about our sweet Peanut! Many of you asked, and he’s a Chihuahua/rat terrier mix. They called him a Chia Rat. ;)

We had such a great day with him. He slept ALL night last night and didn’t make a peep! We had a great visit to the vet – and he’s really healthy. (That was a relief!) And tonight he “went” outside for the first time! (TWICE!) It was like potty training the Bub all over again – so exciting!! ;)

Anyway, we’re figuring things out as we go. One thing I know for sure is that he LOVES our son so very very much. OH my…they are nuts about each other. It brings tears to my eyes every time I watch them together.

I’m finishing up a few things in the basement before I show you the difference decluttering made. :) Until then, I wanted to share some finds from my recent trip downtown Indy to Midland Arts and Antiques:

Three girlfriends and I went for a Saturday “lady date” – as one of my friends called it -- (love that!) out to eat and then to Midland for some antiquing.

If you live near Indy and you love the thrill of the hunt…you MUST take a trip there. It’s an old (HUGE!) warehouse full of fabulous finds.

I snapped shots of a few things that caught my eye. As with most antique stores, you’ll find some good, bad and definitely ugly. :) You’ll also find real antiques, lots of vintage (especially mid-century modern right now) and also stuff you could also find at any Goodwill. :)

I found a few clocks turned cloches:

Do they look familiar?:

The only difference – I bought my 80’s clock-turned-cloche for $3 at Goodwill, and these were both over $40 if I remember right. :)

The fabulous light fixtures are endless! Some are funky:

If we had a wine cellar, I would totally put this there! But alas, we don’t. :)

Some just need some spray paint and they’d be a close Pottery Barn knock off:

And check out this one:

SWOON! It looks SO similar to the one hanging in our dining room:

And mine was a knock off of another Pottery Barn light. I think the one at Midland is even bigger, and is the same price as our Home Depot light (now $180 I believe).

I found a gorgeous mirrored tray that would be stunning on any dresser or buffet:

And this mirror would be beautiful as is, painted a bright white or even an unexpected color:

I loved these cane side tables:

And I kept going back to this chair and ottoman:

They were in fantastic condition! I could totally see them in hubby’s office in the basement – but as  you know, I’m getting rid of stuff down there right now (for the impending finishing off of the space).

You’ll always find the downright weird too. :)

Birds on display anyone?:

And these chairs in your dining room would be a conversation piece for sure!:

:)

I found a few goodies I took home from our trip, of course.

I loved this little bird cagey candleholder:

I won’t use it for candles though. I see a nest or something spring-like nestled in there. :)

I have wanted a vintage fan forEVER…and this one caught my eye:

It was my biggest splurge of the day by far, at $25. I cleaned it up and considered spray painting it. But I also love it as is. Hmmm…

I thought this two-sided mirror was so sweet and dainty:

It’s the perfect addition to my Mom Cave. :)

There were bins full of old Bingo cards:

I only grabbed three for an idea for the playroom. I’m thinking I could use more though.

And this little bunny letter opener was my favorite find of the day:

It was one of those things…I thought it was just adorable. It was only $2, so I couldn’t pass it up.

I had to leave midway through the shopping to get back to the sitter, but it was a good thing. I’m sure it would have been dangerous to stick around too much longer. :)

Sometime I’ll have to coordinate a shopping trip for local readers and bloggers – it’s a great afternoon of digging for goodies!

Have you found any great thrifting finds lately? Any good spots in your neck of the woods?

Introducing Peanut

Hello all! Hope you had a fantastic weekend!

It’s been a great one around here for more reasons than one. :)

I finally, FINALLY got the decrapification of the basement done. I mean, almost every single bit of it. There’s just a few minor things I want to go through, but the big stuff is DONE!

I even finished up going through the guest room closet, which has been on my list for about a year now.

The house feels like it may just float away it’s so light. :)

I was going to show you some of that massive accomplishment tonight, but then something came up.

This little guy:

We found him this weekend, and before we saw him, adding a dog to our family was the last thing on our minds. I mean, for a while I’ve been telling hubby I’d really like to get a dog for the Bub. But we’ve just been talking about it, here and there.

But lately, when I see a dog, something new has been pulling at my heart strings. It’s kinda been weirding me out -- I mean, we’re cat people. Always have been. We’ve both owned dogs in our life, but it’s been a long time for both of us.

But today, I picked up that shaking little guy and he cuddled his wet nose into the crook of my neck, and something in me just absolutely melted.

He cuddled into me, as if to say, please don’t let me go.

It was the same thing this one did the day I found him:

And it was hard for me to shake that feeling. I put him down. Walked away, went back, picked him up. He hung onto me again. Put him down again…walked away. And went back again. This time, I had tears in my eyes.

It was so incredibly hard to walk away from this pup. That last time I put him back down, trying so hard not to cry.

And after that, all I could think about was him. I couldn’t figure out what in the HECK was wrong with me. I had absolutely fallen deeply in love with that face. Hubby thought I was losing it. I thought I was losing it.

After making MANY phone calls to friends with dogs, doing a ton of research online and much discussion with the hubby…we brought him home:

Look at that SQUISHY face.

I can’t believe we own a DOG.  :)

The cat’s are adjusting amazingly well. He’s nuts about them. (For real!) So funny.

Peanut has made himself right at home:

He ADORES my hubby. We adore him.

Now excuse me, as I head to bed extra early tonight. It could be a long one. Wish this new Momma a restful night. ;)

But seriously…isn’t he the sweetest thing you’ve EVER seen??

10,000(!) and month in review

Hey all! First of all, before I say anything else – I need to say a huge THANKS and a WHOOHOO!

Tonight I hit 10,000 followers:

I had to take a screenshot, just to remember that milestone! (I really, really hate that “followers” term by the way.)

But it’s pretty cool to hit five digits. I now have 10,000 of you Squeezies! Squeezays. Squishes. :)

Crazy!!

Anyway, I want to try to bring back the month in review I started doing last year. It’s been a while since I did  recap of the month and it’s kind of fun (for me anyway, you may be snoring already) to see what I accomplished around these parts every month. (I link to each one if you want to check it out.)

The start of this month was an especially special one. We became debt free (except the house) for the first time in our adult lives!!

It’s still so surreal. I find myself thinking about a bill and it hits me -- and I’m grinning from ear to ear. :) We haven’t called in to Dave Ramsey’s show yet – we’d like to take a trip down to Nashville instead. I’ll let you know what we end up doing!

And I’m SO SO excited about an idea that Dave’s peeps have been helping me out with. I hope to announce it in the next couple of weeks.

Next up this month, I took an unused spot in our loft and turned it into functional (and cute!) storage wall:

At the February Before and After Party, I showed you how I took a $5 Goodwill pitcher and transformed it with spray paint:

Can you believe there were 499 posts linked up? Wowza! How cool is that?

Since we’ve become debt free, we are now researching our first “cash” furniture purchase in a long, long time. I’m so excited about a new sofa, I can barely stand it:

There was a great response to that post – I’m pulling all the info you shared together and will do a recap post soon. Lots of great info!

I worked with the folks at My Design Guide to provide my readers an affordable online consultation resource:

I’m not able to do these anymore, so I was thrilled that they were able to help me and my readers out!

My friend Beki shared the love with a fantastic giveaway over at The Rusted Chain:

And then one thing led to another when I took down the drapes in our living room and the transformation started:

When the ice storm of the century hit (that’s what I’m calling it anyway), and we couldn’t leave the house for days, I passed some time by decluttering a linen closet:

You won’t believe how much STUFF was in there. (Many of you asked about the light I used, and a very helpful reader put a link in the comments!)

Next, I showed you a total project FAIL – my beautiful painted pitcher didn’t hold up well, in more ways than one:

Boo. I found a pretty and affordable replacement though. :)

At the Organize It shindig, I showed you how I’ve been using Ziploc bags to organize games and puzzles:

LOVE those things. I used more of them in the basement today! (Check out the nearly 300 links at that party too.)

And finally, this week I shared how I use photos as art throughout our house:

Of course, I’m so thankful to all of my wonderful advertisers…over there to the left. :)

Whew! What a month! Thanks so much for coming along for the ride -- can’t wait for a great March!

Have a wonderful weekend!